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Rethinking Engineering Design and Decision Making in Response to Economic, Social, and Environmental Crises

University of Toronto

High levels of specialization have created knowledge with little or no "peripheral vision," and the resulting "blind spots" are causing many "collisions" with human life, society, and the biosphere. Each discipline and specialty must be equipped with a "map" showing its connections to everything else, but especially the negative consequences that tend to be associated with its practices. Preventively oriented practices can improve the ratio of desired to undesired effects of design and decision making to create ways of life that are more sustainable across the board, as opposed to treating symptoms (such as global warming). This new approach has already fired the imagination of many students in engineering.

Key Words: engineering • design • overspecialization • economic crisis • environmental crisis

Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 29, No. 5, 421-432 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0270467609342708


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